THE FACE OF AMERICA

I was recently involved in a heated discussion with a very nice gentleman, who happened to be a white man, regarding Barak Obama. He intends to vote for Obama. When I asked why, it boiled down to the fact that it will be because he is a black man. Out of curiosity I asked about what positions of the Obama campaign was he particularly fond of? Silence. Okay how about any position he has taken? More silence. During the entire conversation, the only thing he could come up with was the fact that he was a black man. It is his opinion that this is the first time in our history that we have an opportunity to elect a black man and then to show the world his black face as the face of America. His reasoning is that this will prove to the world that we are past our previous racial problems. Any further discussion with this gentleman proved fruitless as he had made up his mind.

There are a lot of reasons to either vote for or against anyone but I think race should be the absolute last one. First of all Obama had a white mother and a black father. As far as I am concerned he is as white as he is black. His race, his gender, his height, nor his religion should influence anyone’s decision. My problem with Obama is not his color, it is his politics. He is a socialist and an inexperienced one at that. He and his ilk on the left will do everything in their power to change America and try to bring about a socialist system like all the failures in Europe. I say failure because socialism has never worked and I doubt that it ever will. It is contrary to the nature of free men and women.

As a senior citizen and a veteran I should favor democrats. They seem bent on giving away the treasure of this great country to us as well as all the other folks among us who do not choose to work for a living. The problem of course is paying for all these wonderful subsidies. That will be left to our children and grandchildren.

They seem to be anti-war. They are no more anti-war than I am. But, there are just times when we have to stand up. Pacifism is almost a guaranteed loss of freedom. I would rather die as a free man than live as a slave. The democrats need to look at where they stand on the matter of defending this nation against her enemies. On Independence Day I watched as hundreds of our military men and women stood to re-enlist in the service. They did it in a war zone. Perhaps those on the left should consider why these soldiers would do such a thing. I doubt it was for the money. Just a thought but I wonder how many of those re-enlistees will be voting for Obama.

If this wasn’t such a dangerous world and if our economic situation weren’t so serious, it would be fun to watch liberals confront reality as leaders of this great nation. Our enemies are not going to quit until we kill them. If that is their choice, it’s okay with me. Increasing taxes will do nothing more than stifle an already over burdened business world. America is facing a shortage of energy. We must start immediately drilling for new sources of oil and gas. We must immediately start building nuclear power plants. New ways of using coal must be introduced. This is no time for the pie in the sky by and by attitudes of leftist liberals.

As to the face of America, the world doesn’t care what the color of that face is, they just want it to be strong in the face of terrorism. They want it to be smart in economic decisions. They need for the U.S. military to be strong enough to deter would be despots and thugs who have visions of grandeur.

As for me, I don’t care what color the face. I just want it to be on the same page as all Americans. End this war but as a victor, not as a coward. Stand up to the nitwits who would destroy America by stopping exploration for energy. Keep our military the strongest in the world. I don’t care whether the world likes us. It is far more important that they know we will take care of business anywhere in the world we are called upon. After the smoke clears, then we can have a tea party.

Ron Scarbro July 7, 2008